Hyderabad: Forest and police officials on Saturday breathed a sigh of relief with the opinion veering around to the animal seen next to the Miyapur Metro Station on Friday evening could be a Jungle Cat and not a leopard as suspected earlier.
While no pug marks have been found in the area, forest officials said a fresh scat of the animal was collected and sent to ICMR-CCMB for correct identification through DNA testing. The size of the scat sample indicates that it could be a Jungle Cat. “And we will also be installing four or five camera traps in the scrub area of the Metro Rail depot next to the station to see if the animal can be captured on camera,” a senior forest official said.
If the animal is conclusively identified as a Jungle Cat, then there will be no efforts to capture it as in the case of a leopard straying into human habitations. A Jungle Cat is no threat to people and is very versatile and can survive feeding on rats, bandicoots, birds. It can find food anywhere,” the official said.
